A system and method are provided for accessing and managing information, or metadata, describing content residing on a number of agent devices. In general, the system includes a central node and a number of agent devices communicatively coupled by a network. In operation, the central node communicates with the agent devices to obtain content information describing content stored at the agent devices and optionally the locations of the agent devices from the agent devices. The content information and optionally the locations of the agent devices are stored in a database associated with the central node. Thereafter, the central node enables requesting nodes such as the agent devices to access the database. In addition or alternatively, the central node may provide automatic alerts to the agent devices when other agent devices matching specified criteria are available.